Trout Source

“Stoke Is In The Air” (Trinity, CA)
So how does one deal with low flows and sensitive conditions? Piss, moan and whine or buck up and deal with it. Easy, no room for buzz killers—it’s the 2012 steelhead season man! Stoke is in the air, flourishing fall colors are coming on, fellow friendships are being rekindled, new equipment and flies are being tested, promising waters are waiting to be fished and strong numbers of fish are already scattered throughout the system. The table is set for those eager and willing.

The End Is Near (Au Sable, MI)
We still have three good weeks of the season.

“Might As Well Stay Home” (Yellowstone)
Tie flies. Go to your job. Watch soap operas. If you have to ask why, you aren’t in Livingston and you haven’t checked the wind forecast.

Fly Of The Month: “Lipstick Butt”

Extreme Squats (Pit, CA)
Well I had a blast fishing new water! Some tough fishing for sure. Even harder wading. I had a few stumbles as well as a few extreme squats. Not once did I fallin tho. Beautiful scenery! Not a bad first outing on the pit.

Big Honkin’ Chubs (Upper Delaware, NY/PA)
Just a reminder that there are definitely some honkin’ big chubs out there. Photo by: Jeff White
The trout-to-chub ratio was difficult to determine

Chub Grub (Upper Delaware, NY/PA)
we had some great Iso hatches. The only issue was – nobody came up to eat them. The Chubs decided to feed voraciously, however, so anyone who would actually target those things must have had a field day.

Fall in High Country (Truckee, CA)
Gotta love fall. Brown trouts, streamers, beer, baseball playoffs. It’s full on fall mode here in Hirschdale. The river is fishing about is good as it gets. Cold in the mornings, nice during the day.

…And In Washington (Yakima)
When I first started fishing the Yakima, a guide mentor that I met in college referred to the Yakima as a “fall river”.  He told me that anglers in the know don’t even bother fishing the Yakima until October when the water begins to cool and stimulates feeding activity and bug life.

Fall Isolation (Au Sable, MI)
It's freeing to think, while fishing, that you are closer to the nearest black bear than you are the nearest human.

Stacked Olives (Au Sable, MI)
When the clouds came a little gust of accompanying wind would stack the olives against the far bank, blowing the olives into some duck decoys that sat in front of a duck blind (a camo sheet, and two lawn chairs...seriously).  The trout were rising amongst the decoys.  If you've never tried to get a drift through cheap duck decoys, it's a bit of a trick.

Alaska
…I accepted a position guiding at Rapids Camp Lodge for the remainder of the season and arrived in King Salmon on June 21st.  We fished all over the place, places with names like moraine, kvichak, brooks, naknek and many other legendary waters of alaska. The fishing is not the only thing that really brings folks up here, its also the amazing scenery and the bears. Brooks is very close to the lodge, about a 20 minute flight in good weather, and it has some of the most amazing bear viewing you could imagine when the sockeye are running through.  Since I have a whole summer of info to share, instead of just rambling I am going to throw a bunch of my favorite pictures from the season up….






Steelhead Trip -- Life-Changer (Klamath, CA)
One day on the Klamath River could...change your life forever.  A few weeks ago we had a very nice young married couple come into the shop for some help with their Steelhead trip to the Klamath River. This guy’s wife had set up a one day guided jet boat trip on the Lower Klamath River for his birthday present. That's my kind of woman.  I told him if all went well he would be a different person after that day.  He returned yesterday with photos.  He landed two fresh run Silver Salmon well over 5 pounds each and about 11 Half-pounders that day.  He said he is changed forever and is now a Steelhead maniac too.  He is headed this weekend to the Trinity River in search of one more Steelhead...  This is what I enjoy about my job. (Bill Kiene)